Tuesday, 20 November 2012

A Cape Adventure #5 - Finishing touches, the lining and the skirt!

The end is finally in sight my lovely readers, it's almost time for the big reveal of my finished cape! But first let me show you the last few details of it's construction, if you can stand it!

First up, I forgot to mention earlier that during the construction of the cape I added a back stay piece, as you can see below:

This back stay was made of muslin and was stitched to the back piece to give the cape more structure. From then onwards the back stay and back piece were treated as one. I also finished the lower edge of the back stay with pinking shears to avoid any extra bulk.

Next up is the lining of the cape. I used a lovely cotton sateen for the lining as I love using natural fibres for linings, it's so much nicer against the skin! The original pattern didn't call for a lining, so I just used the back and front pattern pieces as a guide and drafted my own lining pieces. The main difference that I added to these pattern pieces was adding an inch to the centre of the back piece (meaning I added two inches in total) in order to have a central pleat in the lining back. This pleat prevents tightness and tearing in your lining as you are giving yourself a little bit of extra ease as the lining of jackets (and capes!) tend to get pulled about a fair bit!

The lining pieces were also changed in order to match up with my self-drafted facings, which you can see below:

And there you have it, the cape is completed! But my aim was always have have a complete plaid outfit from my gorgeous Scottish wool, so of course I needed a pencil skirt to match! And here it is, made from the Pencil Skirt pattern from the fabulous "Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing":

I adored this pattern, I actually cannot wait to try more patterns from this book because the pencil skirt was such a pleasure to make! (And I may already have a few projects from this book in the pipeline...!) In case you were wondering this is what the internal working of this skirt look like:

I tried a couple of fancy techniques on this skirt, all of which were great fun, but looking back they weren't exactly necessary! I underlined the whole of the skirt in silk organza so that I could hem it completely invisibly, however the wool I used was very forgiving so this was a little bit of overkill! I also used a length of vintage seam binding on the hem, which wasn't really needed as the skirt was fully lined, but I love how it looks so much I really don't mind :)

So there you have it, construction is complete and here it all is in all it's glory!

What do you think of my outfit? I must admit I am totally and utterly in love with it, tailoring is definitely my new passion, I love it more than any other kind of sewing, and I adore all kinds of sewing! Stay tuned because soon I'll be sharing some shots of myself in my plaid wooly ensemble, I can't wait!

Thanks for sharing my cape journey with me, I hope you've enjoyed it all as much as I have!

You know what, I really don't think the silk organza in the skirt was overkill. Not only does it allow for visible stitching, but it gives 'structure' to a make that you will probably be very thankful for, bearing in mind the tendency for wool to stretch and sometimes bag. Beautiful, beautiful construction! I love this type of detail.

Oh, such a lovely outfit! The capelet is a nice alternative to a cardigan for cool-but-not-frigidly-cold weather, and much fresher than the ubiquitous "shrug." I think these colors look like a caramel-frosted scone, if there is such an animal. If there isn't, there should be. You just keep tailoring on!

The image of "Bertie's pencil skirt" is now burned into my brain -- something on the order of Robert Preston in "Victor/Victoria," wearing Katie's plaid woolen skirt came immediately to mind. Thanks for that endorphin rush.

About Me

Welcome to the world of "The Little Red Squirrel"! A year ago I gave up buying new clothes in favour of making my own or buying second hand. Join me as I continue in my adventures to build a handmade, home-sewn, vintage life.